


Blind Redemption

by thenewjameswesley



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Blood, Hospitals, Memory Loss, PSTD, Surgery, Therapists, blunt force trauma, flashbacks related to pstd from an injury, scrambled memories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 16:57:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20642558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenewjameswesley/pseuds/thenewjameswesley
Summary: He said love was the perfect prison that night when the FBI was escorting Wilson Fisk to a fancy hotel. For Matt Murdock, maybe it was the Mob bosses kryptonite, his love for Vanessa. With the city free of Fisk, a new villain lurks, one of the FBI agents didn't quite end up like the lawyer thought. He was out there alive and looking for revenge, as Bullseye.





	1. Defeated- Fisk

Light flashed in and out of the cop car through its small window, the city moving past as it drove along the highway. The masked vigilante had done it once again. The mob-boss led away in handcuffs, yet he no closer to his love Vanessa. He’d never see her again, smell the scent of her perfume, or see that smile that spread across her face. How could it all have gone so wrong? The answer to that question was simple. The masked man standing tall above him blood smeared across the white suit’s fabric from his many punches. He was powerless.

“I beat you” he yelled.

The vigilante was ready to finish the mob boss for good. As he was about to deal the finishing blow, he hesitated, and instead decided to spare the man. He wouldn’t let this man, who had ruined his life time and time again, change him, making someone he knew deep down he wasn’t. No matter how much he knew, killing this man wasn’t the answer. Daredevil wouldn’t be the man who did it, for death was a far too easy escape. Things would be different this time. No FBI deal or fancy penthouse, just a cell, while the city went on without him.

A deep dark cell is where he was heading once the most powerful man in Hell’s Kitchen, now a prisoner in the hands of the NYPD. Stripped of everything, no fancy lawyers, to get him out or desperate Feds willing to make to a deal or people to pay off. Rolling to a slow stop, an officer emerged from the cruiser pulling the large door open before ordering him to get out “Welcome home” he said escorting the mob-boss to the prison’s entrance. 

Pausing, Fisk turned his gaze looking out for that other cruiser the one containing his love Vanessa, with hopes she too would be arriving here. The couple picking up where they’d left off, carrying on their love even from prison, but that dream soon vanished. Just like Daredevil that night, Vanessa was gone too and there’d be no happy ending to their story. Instead, he’d be alone just like he’d left Seema Nadeem the night his fiancée took her husband away. 

Door after door buzzing open, Fisk followed the officer along the hallway there’d be no need for a trial, nor the appointment of counsel. His case, one that was open and shut thanks to Special Agent Nadeem’s dying declaration District Attorney Tower had more than enough to put him away forever. His associates facing a fate the same as the mob-boss, for they too were heading to prison for a very long time. Including his most prized, former Special Agent Benjamin Poindexter who with clever manipulation became the city’s new villain out to ruin the good name of his arch-enemy Daredevil. 

Fisk had left him injured; spine crushed to pieces the way his eyes looked up as he slammed him against the hard stone haunted the mob-boss with every blink. Poindexter paralyzed more likely facing a far worse fate than Fisk could fathom, or even dream of. 

“Right this way convict,” Poindexter’s words flooding back from the night of his transfer out of Ryker’s Island. Fisk could still see him standing there, smirk spread across his face clutching his rifle as the mob-boss walked past. Yet the same man saved his life, and for that maybe Fisk was thankful. 

Fisk stood removing every layer of the bloodied white suit before placing it in the bin, for it was nothing but a reminder of his defeat. For a mob-boss like him, it was something hard to take as he took in the sights of his new surroundings. His world destroyed by Daredevil once again as the sound of everything falling apart rang in his ears all while his wife stood on the sidelines helpless. He’d yelled told her to run, but as much she wanted to her feet refused to move. 

For in here he wasn’t Kingpin, or anyone’s employer, just another number on the front of a bright orange jumper. A convict, powerless for he had no control over guards, or prisoners, outsiders doing his bidding to gain control of the city once again. 

The cell door buzzing open welcomed the mob-boss to his new home familiar white cinderblock walls, a small cot to sleep on paled in comparison to the luxurious penthouse he’d come from. The one that was now destroyed, as Daredevil lifted his mask revealing his true identity a blind lawyer named Matt Murdock. 

“No prison can hold me, you know that” He shouted kneeling on the floor as fists swung at him left and right 

Silence filled the room the cell door slamming shut as the officer left and he was alone, with every vivid memory of that night from sitting his closet getting ready to watching as Vanessa pranced out in that pure white dress. Her beauty only magnified, she looked as beautiful as when they’d first met in art gallery. It was in that ballroom, where the happiest day of his life began everything from the vows to the first dance, they shared was perfect. 

Years of being pulled apart by the masked man faded, as the couple sought to begin their lives together guests watching from their seats hanging on every word as the minister introduced them as husband and wife. Nothing could ruin that day, but one video even from the grave Special Agent Nadeem had managed to send Fisk’s world crashing down around him. As the agent’s voice echoed from phones across the ballroom, just like that everything the mob-boss did was out. 

A desperate FBI agent wasn’t the only thing that ruined that day the very man who he’d given everything too. An identity beyond the countless fictions, one Ben Poindexter molded himself into every day, along with a new north star to follow. Ungrateful was all he was, running into that ballroom eager for vengeance for everything that he’d been given. 

Only a grin was left to spread across the mob-boss’s face peering down as the same man laid on the cold marble floor unable to move. Defeated, after being slammed several times into the solid rock wall mumbling as detectives barged in through the doors “I can’t move”. Those were his last words, and the last time he’d ever seen Special Agent Poindexter lying in that red suit as the real Daredevil fled out the window. 

Vanessa, he mumbled to himself slouching further against the wall of the tiny cell eyes peeled on the wall just as he did when he was a boy. When his father made him sit on that wretched chair always in front of that damn wall, painted an ugly shade of white listening as his father screamed at his mother. Bill Fisk was dead, and this wasn’t that small apartment with that small chair in front of the ugly scratched up wall. “No prison can hold me” his words echoing in his mind, but in prison he was, and it was holding him just fine. 

This time was different, there was no prisoner doing life he could pay to pretend his life was in danger nor a deal to be made with a desperate agent in financial ruin. One who’d hang on his every word, running back to their boss speaking of what benefit it would be of having this mob-boss at your beck and call. 

Fisk was a smart man, one who certainly knew to how to get himself out of prison because soon enough his clever plan worked, and he was moved into a fancy penthouse based on mere fiction. The truth being his life wasn’t really in danger, it was simply amazing what people in prison will do for money, especially one lifer Jasper Evans.

Memories of that night again flooding his mind kneeling powerless on the floor like a king who’d been stripped of his crown with nothing left to lose the mob boss begged the masked man to kill him. “No prison can keep me, you know that…. Come on! Kill me!” he shouted hoping the masked vigilante would simply oblige. 

But nothing, silence filling the room as the mob-boss stood beaten his face empty of any expression. If the masked man wouldn’t take his life, then what else would he do? Fisk had made clear, that sending him to prison was nothing but a mere waste of time. And he’d end up out just like the many times before, despite knowing that deep down yet refused to kill him. 

“I beat you!” The words echoed in Fisk’s mind. 

Beaten, but even those who’ve hit the bottom can still rise again better and more powerful than before. The masked man had no idea, that behind these prison walls Fisk was plotting that rise from the bottom his mind un empty of ways he’d once again take the city. The reality was quite the opposite, the mob-boss’s mind was, in fact, empty not wanting anything more than relief from the constant memories drifting through it of his wedding night. 

But there would be none, every time he closed his eyes, he’d see the same thing over and over again until his mind decided to quiet letting him get some sleep that night. If love was the perfect prison, then he was in it, for it was inescapable and that night he did everything he could to protect the one he loved. 

Sacrificing himself once again, so that she was free but what kind of freedom would she have without him. Was it truly better than ending up a convict? Once it was proven it was, she who ordered Ray Nadeem’s demise. She too would be alone, in a cell instead of on a beach somewhere in some faraway land. 

A grin crept across his face, rising from the bed he retreated to the front of his cell peering out into the darkened hallway. Nothing but silence filled the prison, only the mere footsteps of the guards filled his ears as they shone their bright flashlights into every cell. Making sure each, and every one of them was fast asleep in their cots, shouting the odd word at the one still awake including Fisk who sleep seemed to escape tonight. 

Regret filled his mind, allowing the only light at the end of this dark tunnel to burn out the brave man who saved his life that night. For he had no idea, where Ben Poindexter was if he had even survived the injuries he’d caused, he’d be paralyzed unable to ever take a step again. Confined to a wheelchair, just like he had been confined to that small chair staring at the wall hoping that it would all stop even if for a minute there would be peace. 

He’d realized the Agent and him were alike, Poindexter too hiding his true self beneath fictions so society would tolerate a man like him. And all it took was a man like Fisk to allow that self he kept hidden to run free in that suit at night. 

Bright flashlight blinded him as a guard reached the front of the cell “Get to sleep convict, morning’s on its way” He said before moving along to his neighbor uttering the same words maybe he too couldn’t sleep hearing the stories of prisoners getting jumped in their sleep would be enough to keep anyone awake. But not Fisk, for his mind was troubling him tonight racing with thoughts of that fight that led him here, defeated and again without Vanessa. 

Taking the guard’s advice seemed like a good option for the mob-boss making his way over to his cot to attempt to take what was left of the night and silence his busy mind hoping he’d forget the many things that troubled his mind tonight. Fisk knew it would take a lot more than merely sleep to quiet his thoughts tonight, the man in the mask plagued them as his speech echoed in his ears its words filled his mind. 

Stabbing pain soon came over Fisk, orange jumpsuit filling with blood faster and faster as he stood silent before his lips managed to part “Daredevil” he mumbled. Before the injury overtook him collapsing to the cold hard floor of the prison cell. Just like that, the mob-boss was no more, so in the end, maybe he was wrong if the prison couldn’t hold him than it would certainly take him out. That’s what happened that night, left for guards to find in a puddle of his own blood who or what took his life no one knew.


	2. Broken- Dex/Bullseye

Flashback 

Awakening Dex shifted his weight in the hospital bed the same dream haunting his mind, playing over and over again in flashes never the whole thing mere bits and pieces were all that he seen until his eyes fluttered open with fright. Sweat filled sheets surrounding him, as he sat there shaking in fear even though safe in a hospital, he was back there lying flat on the cold marble floor of Wilson Fisk’s penthouse. His spine crushed reduced to nothing but pieces awaiting anyone willing to help him off the floor, but all his lips managed to speak were “I can’t move”.

Dex could still hear the anger in the mob-boss’s grunts as he slammed him into the hard-stone wall over and over again until he’d been satisfied that it was enough. And the former agent couldn’t possibly do anything else but lay there glad that Fisk had spared his life, paralyzed but he would live. But he’d never walk, confined to a wheelchair the same damn wheelchair that the nurse sat in the corner of the room awaiting him, as if a new home.

His therapist’s heels clicked against the cold hospital floor the sound enough to put an end to these thoughts for it was time for another session. Filled with talk, in which he would tell her about the constant nightmares while she scribbled on that cheap yellow notepad of hers. Yet no closer to the answers Dex so desperately wanted, events of that night a sea of black in his mind that troubled him too much to recover. 

Bright red lips soon parted to speak reading off some generic small talk that was probably in some handbook she’d read on dealing with people who’d experienced great trauma. Red nails held the paper as she raddled off questions, none of which got him any closer to pulling the events from that black sea. 

Dex peered down at his hands, wrists unrestricted by handcuffs leading his mind to think that he was in fact not in trouble. Like the time he’d killed his baseball coach Dr. Mercer told him it simply wasn’t his fault, but as for willingly working for a man as cruel as Wilson Fisk he was guilty. 

Dressing up in that suit, becoming what he thought was his true self impersonating the masked vigilante “Daredevil”. This true self attacked the New York Bulletin, a church and with one squeeze of the trigger he took the life of his colleague Ray Nadeem. Leaving Seema, a widow, and his son without a father, nothing could absolve him of that not even the fact he believed every word the mob-boss uttered. 

The former agent looked up again gaze meeting that of therapist as the room fell silent before listening to the horrid sound of chair wheels moving across the floor. Before long she was at his bedside, yellow notepad in hand with her pen at the ready awaiting something or anything from him.

“How are you today?” 

“I-I’m good” He mumbled 

“And how have things been, remembering anything more?” 

“Hard, really hard. Still the same…. bits and pieces but n—nothing more” He replied 

Scribbling across the yellow paper that was now lying on the table in front of him pen clutched in her hand as she took down his responses. A mere pen, his mind only thinking of how easy to would to grab it, tossing it directly towards her and just like that take her out something that seemed to please Poindexter at the moment. 

Present Day 

The familiar surroundings of his apartment filled Dex’s view, walls still the same even the hole he’d punched through the drywall hadn’t been repaired. Past due bills littered the coffee table, yet no eviction notice graced door. He had no idea how long he’d been gone, perhaps a few years or even months if it all really mattered at all.   
He'd lost everyone, and everything and with no one to thank but one Wilson Fisk maybe even a bit of the blame was his.

After all, he’d soaked in every word coming from the mob-boss’s mouth “I’ve never felt more myself, more than a fed. “words that stung in the back of his throat. A reason, maybe as to why he did it all in the first place yet unable to take any of it back Ray was gone, even his friend Julie. 

Rage burned in his eyes that night after receiving a text saying she’d never wanted to see him again after being so willing to help pull him from the deep water he’d been drowning in. Little did he know Fisk had her killed, and the words in text were not hers but words scripted by the mob-boss. He did everything he could, to become the one thing he knew Poindexter needed the most a North Star to guide him when he was lost. 

Nothing was what the former agent had, only the thoughts that occupied his mind remained of why he wasn’t sitting in a prison cell. A mere convict, like the one he served with nothing left of his identity but a number on the front of an orange jumpsuit. 

No justice for the priest that was loved by a community, nor for Seema Nadeem who he left without a husband, and a son without his father. He never went to trial or sat in a courtroom feeling as if the charges never existed at all, instead, freedom is what he’d been given. An opportunity, to go back but to what. 

Sighing he slipped a t-shirt over his toned body reflection filling the mirror in front, a scar gracing his back to remind him of what happened that night. If he hadn’t fallen into the hands of that doctor, begging for the chance to be able to be as he was before. He’d be in a wheelchair, and not standing here today. It seemed being paralyzed was an option that he’d refused to take, fighting for anything to gain the ability to walk. 

Dex’s gaze fell out the small window peering out to the city’s many high-rise buildings around him marveling at his surroundings. That they weren’t the white walls of the prison cell, a free man none one knew how or why. And for that Poindexter was pleased, yet all evidence of anything he did was gone something that would only anger the lawyer Murdock knowing the man wasn’t in fact behind bars. 

The former agent turned away from the window bored of its view mind filled with thoughts of what he’d do with his days having no job or rigid structure. The very things that kept his head above water away from waves eager to take him away. Thoughts of going back to the FBI crossed his mind staying for a few minutes before they too drifted out, even if he wanted to go back all it would be is the same fiction, like the one he created before. 

Perhaps an alter ego was the answer for the former agent his eyes widening at the thought of being someone during the day, and completely different at night. Not with a lack of abilities either for Poindexter could pick up almost any average object and use it as a lethal projectile. But then maybe it wasn’t, and the fictions he created were somehow enough but there was something in the freedom the mob-boss gave him that was so appealing. 

His gaze shifted towards his safe, filled with remnants of the former agent’s life his gun, badge and ID nothing but parts of a fiction that he wasn’t anymore. Pushing past those, to find a blue suit fingers caressing its soft fabric nothing pleased him more. After working so hard to leave his old life behind, this time without the help of Fisk he’d become the city’s new villain once again. 

Suit in hand, he shut the safe once again stripping off the black t-shirt covering his body eager to see the finished product. Reminders of everything that happened that night, faded from his mind pulling the blue suit over his body. A reflection even the former agent didn’t recognize filling the mirror, “Benjamin Poindexter is gone, I’m Bullseye now and not even the Kingpin himself could stop that. “ . 

Bullseye paused standing in front of the mirror admiring his newfound identity, leaving any trace of Benjamin Poindexter behind. If anyone asked, he’d simply tell them that he didn’t exist at least not for him anymore. A smirk crept across his face as he continued to stare the blue fabric soft against his body, the same reflection filling the mirror as before no trace of his former self left for him to dwell on. He was this city’s new villain, eager to put a dent in the plans of a certain masked vigilante. 

Moving away from the mirror, deciding he’d stay in this apartment even though the man who owned it was no longer him it had become a familiar place despite the memories that it carried with it deciding he’d rather try to forget them than start somewhere new. Perhaps another venture would fill the desires running in his mind quickly deciding on a rooftop not far from his building the night sky now filling his view holding a black scope in one hand reminding him of the army. 

Nights spent on sandy rooftops peering out among the battlefield awaiting the enemy the one that his superior gave him the order to take out. But tonight, Poindexter wasn’t awaiting an enemy, looking through the lens of his scope he saw a familiar masked man draped in an all-black outfit the familiar hat covering his eyes, “Daredevil” he mumbled to himself deciding to watch the man for awhile 

Soon Daredevil filled the lens once again, muffled sounds of fighting filled his ears as a man was tackled to the ground left lying on the cold sidewalk. Bullseye seen himself in that man, nothing but helplessness remained in his eyes as he lay on the on cold concrete. Just like he’d been that night, on the cold marble floor of the penthouse he too helpless unable to move as police circled around him, “he’s not the real Daredevil.” 

“How do you know?” 

“Because he is,” Mahoney’s words echoed in his ears before long he’d been surrounded by paramedics scraping him off the floor onto a stretcher. Memories that haunted the former agent, as he laid against the cold rooftop thinking of how he’d merely escaped any punishment. No handcuffs, or police guards at his bedside filling his ears with the typical taunts, even the blonde reporter to remind him where was going. 

To a cold dark cell, just like where this man was going tonight the wailing of sirens filling his ears gaze fixed on the officers bringing the man to his feet. As they stuffed him into the cop car, where he too would be all alone with no “North star “to guide him. 

Bullseye sighed, remembering Ray standing in his front yard as Benjamin Poindexter took the man’s life with one squeeze of a trigger. Like the masked man had done just now, with a few punches the man was down but he was alive. His life spared instead left for the officers of the NYPD to take him away.


	3. Nelson, Murdock & Page: Matt Murdock/Daredevil

‘To Nelson, Murdock, and Page” 

Foggy’s words echoed through his mind peering up at the tall glass building the newly formed trio were calling their office. It was their dream, to start over now that the city had been released from the tight grip of one Wilson Fisk giving justice for the ones, he’d caused harm. 

A grin crept across the lawyer’s lips pushing the door open as the sound of telephones ringing filled his ears, along with the warm greeting of the receptionist Seema Nadeem. 

“Good Morning Mr. Murdock,” she said peering up from her desk, a smile spread across her lips before handing him his schedule for the day. 

The trio had decided to take a chance on Mrs. Nadeem, giving her a job at their law firm figuring it was the least they could do. To repay her for the brave acts of her husband single handily brought down the Kingpin, serving him the justice he’d escaped so many times. 

“Thank you, Seema,” He said softly before heading through his office door

“Mornin’ Matt” Foggy’s voice came booming through the office with the latest paper crinkled in his hands. The lawyer made his way to his desk, only imagining what the headline of the paper read if he could only read it himself. News of the mob-boss’s capture, thanks to Murdock’s alter ego, Daredevil. 

“Mornin’ Foggy, what’s the paper say?” Matt asked taking a seat on the soft black chair behind his desk. As Foggy’s lips parted to speak “Daredevil collars Fisk Once Again” he said a grin creeping across the lawyer’s face knowing that it was him, who stopped Wilson Fisk. The city was finally free, at least that’s what Matt thought as the mob boss’s voice echoed through his ears “No prison will hold me, you know that”.

Perhaps the mob-boss was right, and he was far too powerful for an eight by ten cell and it would never be enough to keep him inside. Or the lawyer had finally did it, put Wilson Fisk away for good because no matter how much he wanted to, it would change the lawyer. And there would be no going back, it would be that one bad day, Frank Castle told him he’d have on that rooftop one night making him no better than the former marine. 

As for the imposter, the lawyer hadn’t heard much about what happened to Ben Poindexter one of the FBI agent’s working for Fisk. Who that night was left helpless lying on the cold marble floor of Fisk’s fancy new home. Spine left in pieces, as they carted him away, leaving the former agent struck. Perhaps that too, was enough for Matt sparing the lives of the people who hurt him so badly. Locked away in prison cells, rather than buried in graves.

A freedom Daredevil could never have given them, to go against his code taking away pieces of what he’d stood for, and who he was. Only to be left no better than the Punisher, or the next vigilante who believed no one deserved a second chance. That they would only hurt again. 

“Matt, are you there?” Foggy asked as the lawyer looked up at his friend who was now towering over his desk almost as if he wanted to shake his law partner to his senses, out of his very thoughts. 

“I’m here Foggy” Matt replied his gaze looking up to the papers scattered across his desk almost as if he’d been trying to look busy. Forcing thoughts of the Kingpin from his mind, reminders of the harm he’d caused filling the outside lobby. Looking for any type of relief from the damage he’d done.

“Where did you go just now? Because from where I’m sitting you were in some sort of daydream, you weren’t here Matt. Please tell me you weren’t thinking about him, he’s locked up in a maximum-security prison unable to hurt you, or anyone else. And that psycho impersonating you, he’s in one right beside him.” 

“You and I both know that doesn’t mean anything, Fisk got out once and he’ll find some way to get out again. I should have done it Foggy, but I wasn’t going to let him change who I am I wasn’t going to give that to him. As for Poindexter, I don’t think he ever set foot in a prison” 

“Because you went out, again in those black pyjamas beating on some criminals. But in reality, you were hunting him, weren’t you?” 

“I felt it, someone was watching me that night and it wasn’t Fisk.” 

“Fisk’s not getting out Matt, neither is Poindexter. Not this time thanks to Special Agent Nadeem, his video gave the DA enough evidence to put them away for good. We did it, no vigilante stuff, just us Nelson & Murdock working together again. It could have been anyone Matt, but if helps you sleep at night I’ll check up on our friend” 

Matt sighed as he listened to Foggy’s words perhaps he was right. Fisk was put away for good unable to take control of the city once again. And the two lawyers succeeded, thanks to Agent Nadeem everyone associated with Fisk was in prison. As for the man watching him, he knew it was Poindexter no one else had their sights so set on Daredevil, then Bullseye himself. 

“Thank you Foggy” 

“Your Welcome Matt, are you good now? Foggy said his gaze still on his friend as their blonde colleague entered the room. Karen had decided to embark on the journey of law school. Hoping to join the team of Nelson and Murdock, adding Page to the mix. “Are you two done? we have a client and I have to get going to one of my lectures” Karen says   
“Send them in Karen, we’ll see them now won’t we Foggy?” The lawyer said turning to his colleague watching as he retreated back to his desk. The client soon entered, telling the pair of her troubles all caused by one Wilson Fisk. Because of him, she’d lost her apartment leaving her with no place to live, worst of all her lips were sealed shut by signing a legal document providing her with a handsome reward. All because he wanted to develop the city, making it a better place to live and she was just a pawn who got the in way of the powerful mob-boss. 

The lawyer sighed, as she finished speaking shuffling some papers on his desk before his lips parted to speak;  
“We’ll do everything we can to help you get back your feet” 

“Thank you” he’d heard her say before Foggy ushered her to the office door, silence filling the room once again 

His friends’ fingers clicked against the keyboard, for Matt knew full well what his colleague was up to. Fulfilling yet another promise, checking prison records for one Ben Poindexter the man impersonating his alter ego, Daredevil. Ruining his good name, to make him out a mere villain, a fugitive in the eyes of the law.

“Matt, you’re not going to believe this but there’s no record of any Ben Poindexter in any maximum-security prison in New York. It’s like he wasn’t even processed, no trial, nothing his record cleaned.” 

“I’m telling you; it was Fisk. No one else has the resources to pull something like that off, and now he’s out there free”   
“And watching Daredevil? What are you doing to do Matt, hunt him down and then what? You’ve seen what he’s capable of, at the Bulletin, the church, and that night you went running into Fisk’s penthouse”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing Foggy. Not when Ben Poindexter is still out there, free instead of locked up like he should have been. This has Fisk written all over it, his last move before being hauled off to prison. He wanted Poindexter free, so even from prison he could continue to hurt me.” 

“You don’t know that Matt, there’s no proof Wilson Fisk got Agent Poindexter out of prison. Your mind, it just goes to this place whenever something bad happens it leaps straight to Fisk. He’s got no friends, all the cops, and judges he’s paid off they’re in prison. I’m telling you he has nothing left, not even Vanessa” 

“Ray Nadeem died Foggy for our cause of taking down Fisk he became a casualty because someone gave him up to Fisk. And Vanessa ordered his death, he’d be alive today if he didn’t decide to testify in front of that jury. Now, instead of paying for his crimes Poindexter is out there, and as long as he is, I’m in danger”

“Matt, I think you’re overacting Agent Nadeem would have done the same thing with or without our help. He wanted to be on the right side of the law again, be with his family and he was willing to do anything to make that happen.

No one blames us, his death that’s on Fisk’s hands we did what we could to help him and Fisk found out. As for Poindexter, he may be free, but do you really think he’d be stupid enough to come back to Hell’s Kitchen. I know that you may want to put on that black suit and run around this city looking for him but all that’s going get you is hurt or worse, dead. He’s dangerous, why can’t you see that? I got a call from him that day and being the good citizen, I am I went in. But judging by his expression that day he would have killed me right there if I didn’t take that selfie for my campaign page. I wouldn’t be here Matt, and if you do this you might not be too.”

Sighing Matt rose from his chair, hearing his friends’ words talking of his other self the vigilante Daredevil who would no doubt no matter how dangerous run the streets of the city if it meant finding Benjamin Poindexter. Who Murdock now knew was free. Fisk had played his last card, freeing this man allowing him to never step foot into a prison, taking justice away from the people he’d taken not just from me, but the others like victims. Of the bulletin attack, where would they go now that he’s free, what kind of justice is that? Even if I had to step into those black pyjamas once again and be the vigilante that this city needs to stop Poindexter. 

“Where are you going Matt?, knowing you Murdock, you are going to not listen to a word of what I said taking off from this office in those black pyjamas and head out into the city looking for Special Agent Poindexter, who let me remind you is extremely dangerous. But you know that, yet you really want to get in his path when he gets an object in his hands?” 

“Your right, I am going to leave the office but I’m not going to head out into the city looking for Poindexter because like you said he is extremely dangerous, and you need me here Foggy not injured or worse. No more vigilante stuff, I meant what I said I was going to find a real job, pay Karen back for covering my rent and be a better friend to you both. After the way I treated you guys, you could have left me, but you stuck around. We got through this together Foggy, Fisk is locked up, we did that no Daredevil just the law, Us Nelson & Murdock.” Matt replied 

“Thank you, for once Matt Murdock listens to me not going after Dex who may or may not be still in Hell’s Kitchen. If he is then we will use the law, prove that Fisk had his crimes erased and lock him up in a cell right beside Fisk, the right way no beating him up just using the law.” Foggy said 

“I promise Foggy, if Poindexter is out there then we will do just that no beating him up” Matt replied   
The elevator door binged, as the lawyer stepped out poking his stick around in front of him making his way down the long hallway to the door pushing it open. As the balmy afternoon air hit his face walking along the sidewalk into the crowds of people but none of them of Poindexter. Infuriating the lawyer none the less flashes of the former agent donning his red suit overcame his mind.

“I’ll find you, whatever you're going by” 

Matt thought to himself the words silencing his mind even if only for a few minutes before the soft sound of a lone heartbeat began to fill his ears. The hairs on his arms and neck stood on end as he stood, silently taking it all in. There was a pressure on the side of his head, and he knew, if only subconsciously a man knelt on that roof. Peering through a black scope, he was watching the lawyer. By the familiar weight of it, Matt had no question that one Benjamin Poindexter was, in fact, the man on that roof. If that was even his name anymore. 

Sighing, Matt pushed his attention away from the man on the roof not wanting to explore it any further at least for now. His promise to Foggy rang through his mind words to his friend that he’d put the black suit behind him allowing the duo to use the law. And with that, pushing thoughts of Poindexter away he headed back into the office, cane soon hitting the foot of Seema Nadeem. 

“What were you and Foggy talking about?” She asked 

“Nothing that you need to be worried about Seema, I just stepped out for a while.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing to me, what is that you don’t want me to know? 

“Seema, this isn’t going to be easy to hear none of this is. But it’s only fair you know after everything he’d done to you. Foggy checked the prison records, and the man who was impersonating me, Ben Poindexter, well it turns out our friend never set foot in a prison cell. Fisk, he was behind this. Dex was never arrested, charges not even filed. The man who took your husband’s life is free, and he could still be in Hell’s Kitchen. Waiting for me, and once he finds me there’s no telling what he’d do."

“Justice? For my husband gone just like that, I know that he’d done things too, stuff he regretted and that’s why he came to you and Foggy because he wanted to be on the right side of the law again. Ray did what he did because he wanted to protect me and Sammy. And working for Fisk was the only way he could do that. I was furious with him, that he’d lied to me once again but now I understand and to know that his killer is out there.” 

Matt’s heart sank listening to the words of Ray’s widow, the pain in her voice as she spoke of her husband who even though did terrible things at the hands of Fisk. Seema understood why he did it and would do anything to have him here with her once again, for Sammy to have his dad. Every minute that Poindexter was out there, the lawyer panicked knowing he’d cause more harm if he found out 

“I made a promise to Foggy earlier that if I did find Poindexter. We’d do it his way, using the law and prove Fisk wiped the records of Dex’s crimes. Justice, no putting on the black suit and beating him up. And I’ll make the same one to you.” 

“Do you mean that Matt, or are you just trying to convince me, and Foggy of the fact you won’t put on that outfit and do things your way. Ray agreed to testify because he wanted to help you finally bring Fisk to justice. I actually considered Dex a friend after what he did saving the lives of several agents including my husband, but he was just too far gone thinking what Fisk was giving him was good. If he’s out there, then do what you have to do but don’t convince yourself of something you don’t believe in yourself”

“I don’t know Seema, maybe I don’t believe in using the law anymore. How many times have we tried to bring Fisk to justice only to have him be set free once again? The system didn’t work not for us what I do in that suit maybe that’s the justice this city needs. It may give people a better piece of mind than the law sworn to protect them. 

Sighing as the elevator dinged, doors parting as the lawyer stepped in leaving the widow back in the lobby. Thoughts flooded his mind of what she’d told him if he was really right in making that promise to Foggy, and to her. That Daredevil was gone, and he wouldn’t put on that black outfit looking for Poindexter in the dead of night. Or was he just lying to himself trying to convince himself that he could solely be Matt Murdock?


	4. Confessions: Dex/Bullseye

The Buzzing of cell doors closing filled Bullseye’s ears. There were prisoners yelling all around him, and the guards offered no relief. They reminded the prisoners that sleep would be a good idea that night- but it was the last thing on Bullseye’s mind

Memories flooded his mind- that night he spent laying on the floor, helpless after the mob-boss has finished slamming him repeatedly against the hard rock of the fireplace. 

Bullseye had gotten into the prison quite easily, not a step in his plan hadn’t gone the way he wanted. He wasn’t that half-cocked version of himself who ran into that ballroom instead he was rather prepared. Not willing to underestimate the bastard, not this time. 

Guards sprawled across the floor taken out with their own weapons, his path was clear but somehow he knew that it wouldn’t last. And there would be more of their colleagues rushing in ready to shoot down the former agent. But he’d be long gone before they even arrived, and they’d find nothing but the colleagues he’d left behind. 

Soon Bullseye found himself in another cell block empty of guards as he continued his search. For the cell where he’d find one Wilson Fisk sitting staring at the cold white walls of his eight by ten cell thoughts of Vanessa filling his mind. 

His gaze shifted peering into the many cells that lined the block met with nothing but cold glares from the prisoners inside. The bald man nowhere in sight, begging the question to Bullseye if he was even here. Or had he escaped playing the last card stashed up his sleeve? In fact, the once-powerful mob-boss had no more cards to play for they had been put back in their box. Leaving him alone, with nothing but the other convicts serving time just like him, without any hope of getting out. 

Nothing pleased Bullseye more than the thought of one Wilson Fisk locked in a box helpless just like he’d been left that night. If only he could find that box that was becoming rather a needle among the thousands in the cell block. 

Soon enough he’d found that magic box, the one where they’d put Wilson Fisk. Hands wrapped around the white bars as the bald man turned to face him wearing the same cold glare as always, his lips parted to speak. 

“Who are you? alas I have a visitor something I haven’t experienced in months. No one’s came to see me, a washed-up mob-boss left to rot in a cell no thanks to Daredevil himself” 

“You know who I am. Think Mr. Fisk, who would break into a maximum-security prison such as this all to find you.” 

“I do know you who you are, Special Agent Poindexter. Enjoying the newfound freedom, I so generously gave you and what do you do with it? Come here to pay me a visit while I am alone no guards to protect me.   
Begging the question if you are here to finish what you so crashed my wedding to do. Head filled with lies by none other than Daredevil telling you I manipulated you, taking the life of your friend Julie” 

“They weren’t lies convict; you and I both know that. He enlightened me with the truth of what you’d done, and I ran in there half-cocked as I was underestimating the Kingpin himself” 

“He used you, getting inside your head so you could clear the path for him to get to me. You were just a mere pawn in Daredevil’s plan.  
I guided you down a path away from the countless fictions you mold yourself into, all because society vilifies men like us. Printing stories in their papers about how we plague the city. An agent forced to explain himself for doing his job after he saved the lives of his own. If you’d been wearing a mask, you’d be hailed a hero isn’t that what you said?” And me, the mere convict that conned the FBI into serving me hand and foot yet here I am once again paying my debt to society.” 

“But I don’t need you, not anymore. That man who saved your life he’s gone, I’m Bullseye now. You helped me realize that putting on Daredevil’s suit attacking those helpless people ruining the vigilante’s good name becoming the city’s new villain. That’s what you said to me? I’ve thought about it, plotting how I’d break in here finishing the job that Daredevil wasn’t able to do, the coward. Has some code, but I’m not him sitting in a fancy law office okay with the fact you are in a prison cell. He’s a fool for thinking that would be sufficient for a man as powerful as yourself.” 

“A fool, he is I told him no prison would hold me. Given the chance, I will be free again he knows that, yet he still sent me here. I made you what you were always meant to be we were partners in crime you my personal assassin. Something you said make you feel more like yourself than you ever had, more than a Federal employee.   
Alas, you stand before me in here no guards on my side, alone. So why are you here Bullseye?” 

“I need answers, why didn’t you have me carted off to prison the second I got better. After what I’d done, turning on you to work with Daredevil” 

“I wanted to, with everything in me after what you’d done leading Daredevil straight to my wedding. Yet, I didn’t because I knew full well a man like you could not survive being in here. A fed responsible for sending a majority of my friends to prison with so much as grip on your sanity. Slipping more with each day, as you went on with no North Star to guide you. A matter of time before you went crazy, so I arranged it convinced DA Tower to have you deemed rather unfit to stand trial” 

“I didn’t need your help; anyone could see that” 

“Enough to lock you away in a psychiatric facility surrounded by doctors and nurses eager to keep you drugged up. As you sat in group sessions with therapists begging you to share your feelings convincing you it was for the best. Instead, I had you cleared a mere convict sitting in a prison cell as I orchestrated your release. So that you could go back to the FBI become another fiction anything to get yourself back on the straight and narrow. But I see you’ve went another way creating a new life that allows you to be something beyond these fictions.”

“It’s rather invigorating you see, to become your true self. Someone apart from those fictions that I molded myself into every day I walked into that office. Benjamin Poindexter is no longer a part of me, not even you locked up in this cage could stop that”

“I rather had plans for you, hoping you’d put what happened behind us. And work for me by my side the new James Wesley, isn’t that what you said?”

“Never again, I’m on my own now”

Present Day

A grin crept across his lips setting the scope down on the kitchen counter. He’d seen that Matt Murdock had slipped into his old ways once again putting on that black suit at night even though he’d found a real job. Working as a lawyer but his desire to protect the city never went away. 

Living with the fact, that once again He’d merely sent Wilson Fisk to another prison. As he became a convict sitting in a cell that he knew himself would never hold someone as powerful as him. And one day, a plan would be hatched ending with him becoming free to take over the city. 

Weak, I was weak. I underestimated the bastard, running into that ballroom half-cocked. I should have just shot him from across the street and been done with it. Should have done what you couldn’t, what you wouldn’t. You had him dead to rights, and you let him live after everything he did to your friends thinking a prison cell would be sufficient. Some “code” if it lets a man like that go on killing and ruining people’s lives as soon as he gets back on the streets, which I have no doubt he will. You’re a coward. But I’m not. I couldn’t beat Fisk at his wedding. I was brash and weak, filled with the want for revenge for everything he’d done. And because I was weak, Julie wouldn’t get any justice after he had that fixer of his stuff her body in a freezer but that lawyer Murdock, he led me straight to it. Fisk thought I wouldn’t find it, nor did he count on anyone letting me in on the fact that he was manipulating me. But never again. 

Thoughts rushed through Bullseye’s mind, thoughts of standing outside whatever prison cell they were keeping him in, the one that Daredevil believed that he’d be in forever, but I knew that was complete bullshit. But this time I’d be more prepared, not that half-cocked guy who crashed his wedding in that imitation Daredevil suit. 

Should I have left Benjamin Poindexter behind, Fisk had played his last card clearing the former agent of everything he’d done leaving nothing standing in his way to go back. To the fiction, that kept him on the straight and narrow until the mob boss entered his life. Perhaps Agent Nadeem was right before Poindexter shot him. He could be a federal agent, just like he was before.

To society, he was the man in the suit the one impersonating Daredevil only leaving questions of why he wasn’t locked up. And why the FBI was thinking of giving the former agent a second chance. He’d tried the whole alter ego thing before, only ending with him lying on the cold floor of Fisk’s penthouse. 

Pushing the thoughts out of his mind once again Bullseye retreated over to his small couch his gaze meeting the wall in front of him debating the clean slate that the mob-boss had so generously given him. After he’d found that opportunity, burying Ben Poindexter leaving him with nothing but choices of where to go next. 

“Ray…I’m sorry if I had known then what he was capable of…

No. That’s a shit excuse. I knew full well what Wilson Fisk was capable of. But God help me, I liked it. I was good at it and I liked it. Being more than just a federal employee, trying to keep his head above water so maybe I wouldn’t drown. 

Then he gave me your name as a target. I’d like to say I didn’t know or that he forced my hand or that I thought it was worth it or even necessary to stay in his good graces, but that’s all shit…and Christ man, I’m sorry. It’s too fucking late now, but I’m sorry. 

But now Fisk is dead and maybe that’s the end of it. I paid that bastard back…Not for you or Sammy or even Seema but I paid him back…

Maybe I should just hang it all up, just walk away from all this running around in a suit at night and go back to the FBI. After all, it wasn’t even Ben Poindexter who shot you that night man, it was fuck I don’t know.

It was a man, manipulated by a bald mob boss whose life I saved that night, you remember Ray the transfer from the prison after the Albanians nearly took us all out. Sometimes I wish I would have made a different decision but after I like you, thought he would make the city a better place but in the end, he just played us.

Sighing the former agent peeled off the suit reflection of his toned body filling the mirror “Maybe I’m a fool for thinking it was easy, to switch off my feelings and become this man in a suit.” Because one could just forget the things he’s done, and that was a lot of things. 

Things I didn’t pay for, because of him. Once again Wilson Fisk proved he could get to me it’s like he’s still in my life, almost as if he’d never left. But now he’s gone, no chance of him getting out of this one I did what Daredevil couldn’t do, or even should have done that night. 

Sometimes I think about how things could have gone differently that night, and I’d never have taken you out maybe I wouldn’t have been in Fisk’s good graces, but I might just have my colleague. I know you’re probably tired of hearing this but I’m sorry. I wish I would have listened to you Ray, and helped you take him down, Two Federal Agents Just like before, isn’t that what you said?


	5. Mystery Man: Matt Murdock/Daredevil

I promised Foggy, and Karen the two people that I cared about the most hurt because of me, this second life I led as Daredevil running around in the suit at night. Beating on criminals or someone he needed information from, but I had a code, one I swore I’d never break.

Wilson Fisk was right, I couldn’t do what it would take to stop him not at that bar that day, nor his wedding night. Instead, I put him in another prison cell one I damn well knew that he’d get out of, if not today then one day. And he’d go right back to what he did before, and gain control of my city once again with nothing I could do about it.

Maybe Stick was right all those years ago, telling me friends would only get in my way and people like us needed to concentrate on being the hero that kept this city safe. And that having both simply wasn’t an option. I tried that life, pushing Matt Murdock away in that church that night telling everyone I was Daredevil and not even God himself could stop it. I let my friends think I died that night in midland circle crushed under the rubble of that building. It wasn’t fair to Foggy, nor Karen that I was hiding down in the church basement letting them go on grieving for me, they deserved a better friend than me. Yet neither of them wanted to admit it so they stuck around hoping I’d gain some sense to come back to them. 

Ben Poindexter was out there; I can still smell the scent of the suit that night in his apartment that night through the thick walls of his safe. Only to open it and find the suit was nowhere to be found. The guy was an FBI agent a smart one at that. Not stupid enough to leave it right where me and his colleague Agent Nadeem could find it. I had him, just like I had Fisk but Ray he just won’t let me touch him. Making me wonder if we were even on the same side. It was becoming harder to keep my promise because here I was again fighting with everything in me to head out those doors tonight.

Whoever he was now, he was watching me waiting for the next time I’d step out of the building. And break my promise to my friends as he peered down at the man that didn’t do what he couldn’t. If Poindexter could have gotten up off that floor, the former agent just may have taken Fisk out himself bloodying his hands once again. Something that came far too easy for him. But yet mine would be stained for letting it happen, no prison could hold him and Dex knew that. 

Revenge was on both our minds, making us weak running into that ballroom cocky enough to believe that we could take out Wilson Fisk, but just like every other time, we underestimated the bastard. He was stronger, and smarter than us that night. Using his great strength, he would have taken us both out, not just Poindexter but me too. The only difference was I was a bit smarter that night, even now it still was taking everything in me to stay here, while Poindexter was out there. 

“Matt, you’re going to want to see this! It’s all over the news someone took out Fisk guards found him dead in his prison cell no one knows who did it.” 

“Foggy, but I know exactly who did it. Its Poindexter he did what I couldn’t that night and now Fisk’s dead the blood is on his hands” 

“You don’t know that Matt, Wilson Fisk made a lot of enemies after he made that deal with the FBI it was a matter of time before someone got to him. But there’s no convincing you because you think the man who was impersonating you did this; Fisk gave him freedom why would he risk it?” 

He did it, and I wanted to praise him no prison could hold him, and Benjamin Poindexter knew that. Words echoing through his mind, as I stood there over Fisk hoping I’d do what he came there to do too. I was still the coward, the man who couldn’t break his code to rid the city of Fisk myself. Frank would have done it too, maybe he was right on that rooftop no matter how much I tried to deny it just one bad day, and I was him. 

“I have to go Foggy”

“Where Matt? To go out there after the man you think is responsible for killing Fisk. If you ask me, he did the city a favor taking him out, but you want revenge for what? Poindexter doing what you couldn’t, need I remind you how you ran into that hotel ready to take him out so many times. And you couldn’t, because that’s just not you Daredevil isn’t a killer, and neither are you. Matt, you’re my friend, the other half of Nelson & Murdock.

What happened to your promises Matt? The one you made Karen, and I after we looked after your place and rent because we refused to give up on the possibility that you may have survived. When that building collapsed on you that night, Murdock. And that day, after everything with Fisk was over in my parent’s deli shop telling us that you were going to get a real job, and just maybe we’d be us again, working side by side as lawyers using the law like before you became this vigilante at night. “

“It’s not revenge for Fisk, you’re right Poindexter did the city a favor he did what I couldn’t that night, but he tried to hurt you Foggy. He almost killed you that night at the Bulletin, and then Karen in the church, I had Fisk I had the chance that night too, but my friend was in trouble, it was the hardest decision I had to make. I wanted to get him Foggy, but at what cost Karen losing her life because of that psycho dressed in my suit. After everything he did, don’t you think Poindexter should pay too?” 

“But he didn’t, you were there for us Matt because that was the right thing, you were always willing to do the right thing that night. We came there to clear your name, but that psycho foiled our plan but that’s on Fisk, he manipulated him forced him to do things, all to make him his errand boy. I’m not defending his actions, but don’t you think that he’s a victim in all this too and maybe he would have been on the straight and narrow had Fisk not dug his claws into him. You ask if I think he should pay? Hasn’t he paid enough, Fisk left him lying on that floor helpless and he had to work his way back from that, you of all people would know how that feels. Seeing as you were left under a pile of rubble under Midland Circle not too long ago.  
Leave it alone Matt, I don’t want to lose my friend over getting revenge for what this imposter did to you. I’ve made the mistake of letting you go there once and look where you ended up.”

“He enjoyed it Foggy, everything he did whether Fisk dug his claws in or not Poindexter is dangerous. After everything and you’re painting him the victim Foggy claiming he was manipulated by Fisk that somewhere deep down he may have been making his own decisions. Ray Nadeem offered him a way out that night, and he refused to help him instead he put a bullet in his colleague’s brain. He died alone Foggy, and worse of all the FBI covered it up” 

“I read his file Matt after you decided to leave the office once again to go out and look for Ben Poindexter. The man is mentally ill both his parents died when he was young, leaving him an orphan to grow up on his own, no one was there for him. What do you think that does to a person? He’s had no one but this therapist, and even she eventually left him. You're looking for nothing but danger Matt, you saw what he’s capable of, you’ll just get hurt.”

“You’re right Foggy, and I of all people should understand what that does to someone. That was me Foggy, I’ve been here after my dad died I too had no one but I didn’t become a psycho as a result. Stick he found me turned me into what I am today. Now he’s gone, Maggie’s all I have left, and I almost threw that away too.” 

“Then if I’m so right, then why do I think you’re going to run out of here anyway? What is it going to take to keep you from going back on your word?”

“Trust me Foggy, I won’t but I can’t let this city down again letting you and Karen get hurt in the process”

“Fine Matt, go be Daredevil again and hunt down this Ben Poindexter do things your way. Because it’s clear you don’t believe in the system, not anymore. So, I wonder what we’re even doing here?” 

“You can’t tell me that you do? Not after what happened with Fisk, and now Poindexter. We’re living our dream as Nelson & Murdock”

“I do Matt because deep down I know as broken as it is. Justice has this way of prevailing for us, and sometimes it doesn’t feel like you believe the same” 

“I believe Foggy, but some people like Fisk no matter what we do justice never sticks. And he just gets to walk free taking over my city once again” 

“If I find out where he is, will that be enough for you? Because I know no matter what I say it’s going to end with you heading right out that door in the suit or not”

Matt sighed watching Foggy retreat back to his desk, a solemn look covering his face as he opened the search engine, knowing full well what his law partner would do. Eyes widening as he peered at the dimly lit screen scrolling down the page. Discovering what he knew he would, the truth that Fisk even though dead gave this guy his job back. 

“So, where is he? Matt asked peering over his law partner’s shoulder 

“Ben Poindexter was just reinstated a few minutes ago at the FBI Office right here in New York” 

“So that’s where I’m going then, thanks again Foggy,” Matt said moving towards the door, as it shut behind him 

“Matt…wait, there’s” Foggy’s voice trailed off behind the lawyer as he made his way down the hallway cane in hand as he poked around feeling for any sign of the elevator. Sighing as his hand finally reached the button, mind racing mostly of the speech his friend had just given him reminding him of the promises he was about to break. As soon as he put on that black suit, he was back to being the vigilante that kept the city safe at night, but the lawyer wouldn’t break that promise not tonight. For he was Matt Murdock the lawyer, the only identity he’d need to get to Poindexter.

“I knew you’d show up, sooner or later. Guess you seen the news, someone took out Wilson Fisk, whoever it is did the city a favor” Dex said 

“I know it was you Dex, you broke into that prison, Fisk’s blood is on your hands. I had him Dex, but I let him live and I sent him to prison without anyone, not even his precious Vanessa. Why couldn’t you leave it at that?”

“He ruined my life, made sure I lost my job, took Julie away from me. All just so he could become my North Star, be the one to guide me. He turned me into his errand boy, had me take Ray’s life. But none of that matters does it because you were too much of a coward, you have this code and you see I don’t”

“Damnit, YES I have a code, but damn the code! Do you know how many years he would have spent rotting away there? Do you really think killing him was enough? I wanted Fisk to pay just as much you did! But I’d rather see him rot, penniless and feckless than get off like that. Fucking! Easy”

“Besides it’s not our call to make. If we kill, even if they deserve it, we’re no better than him” 

“Maybe I was wrong, but I killed before running around in your suit impersonating the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen himself, ruining your good name. All while Wilson Fisk had my colleagues right where he needed them, under his thumb. It started with me but why have one agent, when you could have the whole FBI. He turned me into his hired help, I made that call, even if it was the wrong call, and Fisk deserved to rot in that cell. But you heard him, no prison could hold him, you tell me how long it would be until he got out again?”

“Never! He would have rotted in that cell; he knew what would happen if he broke our deal. Vanessa would be charged, thrown into prison just like him. He gave up ever seeing her again, so she could be free to go wherever she wanted. I would have seen to it; he knows what getting out would cost him.” 

“Threats, and blackmail you think Wilson Fisk was afraid of a blind lawyer running around in a black suit at night. Who would show up at his prison cell, to taunt him reminding him that you beat him and took this city away from him? That wouldn’t stop him, nothing would he’s a resourceful man and not even a lawyer like you could get in his way” 

“No damnit, Legally! With Ray’s help, we had him me and Foggy using the law we put Fisk in his place, built a solid case for the DA to put him away for a long time. No loopholes, nothing was getting him out of that cell, not this time except you killing him.” 

“With Ray’s help, because he wanted to be on the right side of the law again but without him you and your law partner had nothing. He died helping you, send Fisk to prison. That video he made telling of everything Fisk did, all his crimes using your reporter friend to spread it. While it played at his wedding as he shared his first dance with his wife, the women he loved. You used me, putting those ideas in my head all so you had a clear way in. But you see I’m back on the straight and narrow, they made me Special Agent in Charge. Funny how the tables have turned. I know who you are, Murdock you’re not just Foggy’s law partner” 

“Yeah. Ray had him, he wanted to make things right. And you just shit all over his sacrifice”. Leaves 

Matt heard Poindexter sigh before his voice echoed through the hall once again” Don’t you ever say I didn’t care about Ray or our relationship he saw me as family. He was the only one here who gave a damn about me, what do you think would have happened if I didn’t do what Vanessa said? He would have taken me out, there’s not a second that goes by that I wish things had been different in his yard that night. Now go, before I decide to arrest you for trespassing.

Only silence and the sound of a closing door echoed in reply.

Same smug bastard, sandy blonde hair perfectly combed, a tight t-shirt covering a toned body, just like before as if that injury had no effect on him at all. The bureau had the nerve to make him the boss, maybe I went a bit too far the man obviously cared for Ray perhaps more than just a colleague. More importantly, what would I tell Foggy, after I marched in there full of anger, waiting to blow up on a man who could take me out with anything on his desk? Bullseye, I knew who he was, and he knew me.

The church door slammed closed behind the lawyer finding his usual pew before taking a seat mind racing with thoughts of what he’d just done. Knowing full well that he went against Foggy’s wishes and for now he was unwilling to go back, to face his law partner once again. Strange, was the feeling that overcame Matt usually Father Lantom, would great him willing to entertain any thoughts on the lawyer’s mind, but he wasn’t here the man in his suit took him away.   
“Fisk is dead, the man who was wearing my suit…he broke into that prison. Took him out, just like that ruining everything me and Foggy did, he took it away. Ruined Agent Nadeem’s sacrifice” 

“Isn’t that what you wanted? What you came to that hotel that night to do, dressed in the suit. You can’t tell me you just wanted to confront that man; you knew it who it was long before. I knew that night when he came into this very church hunting down you and Karen. I led them all around here, all well knowing exactly where you two were, but I had to pretend, to keep you two from ever reaching Fisk’s claws. I could have given you up to Wilson Fisk, but I didn’t so I don’t understand why you’re so upset about this.”

“I had him, right in his fancy penthouse and I couldn’t do it. So, I’m upset because of him, here I am with this code, and Poindexter he just breaks into that prison and next thing I know Fisk’s gone. He did this city a favor, but did I tell him that, of course not instead I almost broke my promise to Foggy, Karen running into his office angry of what he’d done.

He’s went after the people I love, hurting them in the process. That’s why Father Lantom isn’t here to tell me what to do, if he hadn’t saved Karen that night, I would have lost her too. It was my revenge to take, not his. Poindexter was ready to do his bidding once again if I hadn’t told him that he’d been manipulated by Fisk. He would have been at that wedding, a loyal errand boy without even a clue of what Fisk did to him. He didn’t care for revenge, not until then.”

“So now he’s dead. No matter who it was, that’s who Father Lantom was every time you came in here there, he was waiting to hear your confession of whatever trouble you’d gotten yourself into to offer his advice. He knew how much Karen meant to you; he’d have done anything for you, Matthew, you know that. And protecting Karen was just one of those things, don’t blame yourself for his death that’s on Fisk, not you or Daredevil. The blood is on his hands, not yours you gave up an opportunity you had Fisk that night, but you chose your friends over taking him out. so, you can sit here and blame yourself wallowing over something you couldn’t do, or you can move on.” 

“Stick, he would tell me the same thing, maybe in a few less words he’d say, “What’s done is done Matty, you got to move on from it.” As much as I wouldn’t want to hear it, he’d tell me anyways I know he would. My hands, they aren’t clean I let Fisk get to me and I almost had him that night. You’re right but maybe Father Lantom would still be here if I wasn’t so hell-bent on taking out Fisk myself. Karen, and Foggy they wouldn’t have been put in danger. I want to move on but how can I when Poindexter is out there, free after everything he’s done it doesn’t matter, He gets to go back to the FBI have his job back, while me I’m here stuck.”

“Stop dwelling on the past, Fisk is gone whether he’s sitting in a prison cell or not so enjoy it. Instead of blaming yourself for everything, hasn’t Foggy and Karen put this behind them you have your law office, you’re helping the people who’s lives Wilson Fisk ruined. You are a great lawyer Matthew, and an even better friend. But right now I see a man wallowing in self-pity because the man who was impersonating you is free and you’re blaming yourself for it.”

“I may be, but you saw what he is capable of when I came back that night. When you patched me up, that injury he caused it and almost killed Foggy in the process. I know Fisk is gone but Poindexter he’s dangerous now that he’s out from under Fisk’s hold. He’s by himself and it’s only a matter of time before he decides to finish what he started. He was watching me from his rooftop. I know who he is, and he knows I’m Daredevil.” 

“And you don’t think he’ll stay on the straight and narrow? You said he’s back on the job, the one thing that keeps his sanity together. Him running around in your suit, that was Fisk not him he didn’t want that, but he was desperate willing to take anything just to keep himself together one more day. So maybe he didn’t have to fight that battle or mold himself into another fiction. He’s hung up his mask, no matter what he told Agent Nadeem. He’s what he wanted to be that night, a Federal Agent just like he was before. And I bet there isn’t one part of him that wishes you would have told him sooner so maybe he’d have Ray by his side.” 

“He may have hung up my suit, and my mask. And maybe he didn’t but that doesn’t change the things he’d done, even if he is back on his path. Taking his medication, going to therapy, but deep down he knows that’s all an illusion. He’s not going to forget the freedom Fisk gave him, to be his true self, not some fiction that he’s decided to become. So, he’ll find a new mask, he’s Bullseye just pretending Benjamin Poindexter exists.” 

“Stop pining over this man, I know why you’re here because you can’t face Foggy. You may not have gone out as Daredevil, but you still went out. And now you’re worried you broke your promise to him and Karen. So, you came here complaining about how this man did something you couldn’t. So, go, see Foggy and when this Bullseye shows up, you’ll be ready.


	6. Reinstated: Dex/Bullseye

Flashback 

I keep hearing it, his grunting as I was slammed against that wall like I was a doll. The anger in his eyes as my back hit the cold stone, he just kept going. You know it haunts me; in my dreams, I keep seeing him his cold glare just before he dropped me to the floor. Waking up screaming, with nothing to help me just get a few more minutes of sleep. The tapes I burnt them because in that moment I felt more myself than I ever did, thanks to Fisk. I couldn’t even get up; you tell me how that feels to be trapped lying there while this police detective is standing over you. Telling you you're coming with him, but you can’t. 

The sound of her sharp heels clicked against the cold floor, as she neared my bed. Blonde hair tied perfectly into a bun, dressed in a blue button-down blouse as her red painted smile shot my way. Her eyes glaring at me, the helpless man in a hospital bed, awaiting the small talk she was about to ensue with me. Until she was ready to tell me it was time to share, how’s Dex today her lips would part to speak. That’s how she started everyday like one day would make a difference of how I felt trapped and wanting answers while I screamed in my sleep. Those words, as she scribbled down on her yellow note pad, the sound of a pen scratching against the paper. Poindexter sighed, just like before pushing the thought of grabbing that pen from his mind “one swift toss” he mumbled. 

“How are you today, Dex?” 

Silence filled the room, as the former agent lifted his gaze eyes looking up but not meeting hers…not wanting to entertain the small talk she was clearly trying to make with him. He’d just awoken from a dream, another dream of the same night, every time he closed his eyes, he’d see it, almost feeling the mob-boss lifting from him from his bed. As if he was stuck in a nightmare and telling this therapist about it wouldn’t get him out of it, nothing would, figuring why should he talk only just to relieve it so she could jot down the same notes as the day before, so excuse me if I wasn’t into this sharing business today. 

“Are you still having dreams about Wilson Fisk?” 

The former agent shifted in his bed, pain beginning to radiate down his spine as he shifted his gaze eyes still not meeting hers. Perhaps maybe now he could call the nurse, to get some painkillers and then the therapist would have to go, because he’d need rest not talk so everything would work in his favor, leaving him alone like he’d wanted. But she’d see right through it, his plan foiled enough to leave him no choice but to do the one thing he didn’t want to, talk. 

“Dex, we can’t move forward if you’re not going to talk with me” 

“I’m not talking today, you think talking is going to help me escape this constant nightmare, free me from its grip. I can’t even close my eyes, god knows I want to but every time I do, I see Wilson Fisk, hell it feels like he’s standing right here in my room. You tell me talk is going to fix that, huh? Cause it’s not.”

“You’re right, talking isn’t going to fix your nightmares Dex but just maybe it might help you deal with them but instead you’d rather push your feelings down into some abyss you’ve created inside you. While you lay there, glaring at me while you bottle everything that’s happened to you up. And right now, you’re in pain because you moved again to avoid me, it’s the one constant here Dex you keep avoiding, until one day you are going to explode. It will happen, no matter how much you want to deny it, but I’m here so that doesn’t happen, so why don’t you just talk to me?” 

“So why are you still here? I’m not avoiding anything except for your psychobabble about how I’m experiencing PTSD. I was a solider in the army and they told me all about it you know when you’re in those battlefields, every single day taking out enemies, it’s all you know. And you see things that sometimes change you. And after that, when it’s time to come home you aren’t the same. Suddenly you’re not in those battlefields anymore but in your own home but you don’t know that not in that moment.” 

“I’m still here because believe it or not, I want to help you Dex…not give you psycho-babble from some textbook I’ve read because I can give you that Dex but none of it is going to help. Because I’d rather hear it from you, how you feel, so why don’t we start with some simple questions?” 

“Fine” Dex mumbles as he adjusted his position in his bed 

“How do you feel after you’ve had a nightmare?” 

“I-I’m back in his penthouse, laying in his arms! While F-…. “Dex took a shuddering breath, “I can’t even say his name anymore so why don’t we just forget it”

“We don’t have to say his name, but would you rather we continued another day?”

“I-I said I don’t want to talk about him!” Dex yells 

Present Day 

“Special Agent Poindexter, are you ready? They’re waiting in the conference room” A female agent said   
Sighing, Dex turned his gaze to the agent before him pushing thoughts of Ray from his mind. If only his colleague could see him now, but the agent had nothing left, no colleagues, no friends, nothing but the freedom that Fisk decided to give him. 

Cameras flashing, the sound of an excited news crew was what surrounded him. Not the lonely white walls of a cell but a backdrop of the conference room window. And all eyes were on him.

A shuttering breath escaped his lips, before watching as an agent stepped up to the podium as her red lips parted to speak;  
“This division has gone through a lot, to say the least, these past years have been a rebuilding for all of us. A number of our colleagues’ face prison time after they accepted employment from one Wilson Fisk, a man we believed was on our side. Only to blind us with his true motives. 

One Agent managed to rise from all that, used and manipulated by Fisk to the point even he didn’t know who he was anymore. Despite his tough recovery, he’s standing here today having overcome so much to get here, so without further adieu, I’d like to introduce our new Special Agent in Charge, Benjamin Poindexter”

“I-I don’t know what to say, it’s been hard, really hard getting back here. But there’s no excuses for the things I’ve done, the blood is on my hands, and I can’t clean it off. All you guys see is the man who attacked a church, newspaper and took out one of his own in the process. All because a mob-boss took everything away from me, till I had nothing left but him. I want your trust, to lead you but how could you guys trust someone like me?”   
‘Pausing, Dex peered into the crowd filled with strangers, for the first time the agent felt alone without any north star to guide him, not even Ray Nadeem for Wilson Fisk had taken everyone the agent ever knew away. Unsure of the words he’d say next, or anything for that matter the agent’s reality itself had taken a sharp turn, one that started with him coming back as the man he’d been before Ben Poindexter. But deep down he knew this was all a disguise. 

“I’m Bullseye” The agent mumbled to himself before turning to the microphone deciding on a few more words to say to the crowd “I-I know I don’t deserve this, but that night Ray he told me that we could be Two Federal Agents just like we were before, but he’s not here and t-that’s on me. I feel like I let him down refusing to help him because I thought what I was going back to, was better. But I was wrong, and he’s not standing here. Somehow, I know that’s what he’d want to see me back on the straight and narrow, this job it meant everything to me and I let a mob-boss get in the way of that.” Dex finishes 

Silence filled the room turning away from the microphone the agent stood thoughts rushing into his mind of the decision he’d just made stepping up in front of a crowd of strangers as he admitted everything he’d done, the blood that stained his hands. Of Agent Nadeem and that priest heck, he didn’t even know his name. But he was important to a lot of people, and I took him away from them that night, without paying a price. He got no justice, and neither did Ray bit yet I was here announcing my appointment as Special Agent in Charge. But in reality, I was just a man pretending to be this agent, this fiction when deep down I was the villain Bullseye, and no one could stop that.

Dex turned, as his gaze found a familiar face of one NYPD Detective Brett Mahoney. His eyes widened feeling the detective’s glare from across the room, his colleagues unaware as they continued expressing their support for the agent. 

Their slow claps getting louder before tapering off “Congratulations Dex!” One of them said. But his eyes were still on that of the Detective the same one who stood over him that night in the penthouse, ready to take him away as he mumbled “I can’t move” the agent's own voice echoed.

As the Detective neared the distance becoming shorter between the two. “Agent Poindexter, you’re back? It’s been a while.” His lips parted to speak

“It’s good to be back Detective, nice to see you here” 

“Ben Poindexter, that’s your name, isn’t it? I thought you were locked up in prison for what you did”


End file.
